Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Sure it was the N.I.T. and I don't know if it was the producer's call or Sean McDounough reacting on the fly, but ESPN actually aired the National Anthem before the UMass-Syracuse game....

I know a lot of you feel the same way that I do about the anthem, but I definitely think it needs to be aired before all games. Kudos to Dan Shulman and/or ESPN for letting the Syracuse Band play it on-air (no matter how bad it sounded).

Oh and UMass completed a ridiculous comeback from down 21 in the second half and earned a trip to NYC. Great game.

I agree with steve on it being a timing issue. ESPN might've shown the National Anthem before a basketball game once this season (before the Eve Carson tribute in Durham; I might have missed a few other instances).

Yeah, NASCAR ALWAYS shows the anthem and invocation, regardless if it's a Sprint Cup, or Nationwide (formerly Busch) Series. Back in the 80s and 90s,they didn't used to (except for the big races, Daytona, Indy, etc..) up until the big TV deal in 01 with FOX and NBC.

When in college at the University of Evansville in the 1990s, I broadcast sports events on the school's radio station. There were times where they'd throw back to us after a break in the middle of the national anthem. More than once I had to quickly say, "Our national anthem, joined in progress" upon return.

I've heard announcers talking over the anthem before, which comes across as really low rent. That wasn't even an option for me in most cases -- if you're yakking away during the anthem in a sparsely populated gym before a women's basketball game, you're going to get some dirty looks.